Author note:

This is from a prompt from Lauren. I hope this meets your expectations. Sorry it took me a while to work it in.

To the rest of you, I hope some of you are still enjoying the Fluff.

CH 43-In Sickness and in Health

The guys had been gone for a couple weeks. That was too long to impose on anyone else, so Emma had been at home with Mikey. She missed Clay and hated not being able to sleep in their bed. Long missions sucked, but it was all part of being involved with someone on the team.

Communication had been inconsistent, and Emma had only heard from Clay a few times and from her dad twice. She had texted both of them multiple times, but she wasn't sure how much actually went through.

She and Mikey managed on their own. Emma took care of things as she had so many times before. Toward the end of the second week of Bravo's absence she finally got the message she had been waiting for.

-Em, wheels up in 48- from her dad, and

-Home on Wed. Love & miss you- from Clay

She went through the calendar in her head and figured that she could do some cooking tonight for the house and the apartment, drop off the food and other groceries to Clay's tomorrow, and then after picking up Mikey from hockey Wednesday, head to the apartment to see Clay.

Everything was going well until Tuesday night when Emma started to feel an ache in her head and a tightness in her throat. She wasn't sure she could make it over to the apartment tonight drop off the food. She thought that if she could just get some sleep, she would feel better when Clay got home tomorrow.

Wednesday morning her alarm went off and she could barely move. Her whole body ached, and her stomach was rolling. She forced herself out of bed and made sure her brother was up. Even he could tell she was in a bad way.

"Are you feeling okay Em?"

"Not really," she croaked out. "Can you promise me that you'll eat and get on the bus?"

"Sure Em."

She called off school and watched out her window to see Mikey get on the bus and then collapsed into bed. She'd deal with hockey practice later. She wanted to sleep and will herself better so she could see Clay.

Shortly before noon the guys were walking to the parking lot, more than ready to head home. Jason arrived at the house and was surprised to see Emma's car. Maybe she had ridden with Hannah, expecting to go to Clay's tonight. But the younger man hadn't mentioned anything. He unlocked the door and went inside dropping his bag by the couch. He heard some movement and horrible retching noises coming from upstairs.

"Em," he called out. He continued up to the bathroom and found her laying on the floor.

"Emma, honey. I'm home. What's going on?"

"Ugh," she swallowed against a raw throat. "I don't feel good dad." Just as she got that out, she jumped up and heaved into the toilet again.

"Oh honey."

She sat back and he flushed the toilet and grabbed a wet cloth for her to wipe her face.

"Let's get you to bed Em." He helped her up and held her steady as she walked back to her room. Jason tucked her in, brought up a bucket and some ginger ale.

"How long have you been sick?"

"Just since last night. How did everything go? How's Clay?"

"Everyone's okay honey. Clay's home safe and sound." Jason could see her relax more against the pillows at that news. "In fact, let me give him a call. I think he was expecting to see you tonight."

Emma teared up. "I know. I wanted to see him so much."

Jason patted her hand. "It's okay honey. Just try to get some rest. We need you to keep something down, so you don't get dehydrated."

"Wait dad, Mikey…" she started coughing. Jason handed her the ginger ale.

"Don't worry honey. I'll take care of it. Just rest."

Jason texted Clay.

-Em's sick. Probably flu-

-I'll be over. Does she need anything? –

-Pedialyte and soup-

-Got it. Tell her I'm on my way-

Clay arrived with the requested items and a couple more things for Emma. He unloaded the bags in the kitchen, setting the soup and Pedialyte on the counter. He laid aside the flowers and magazines to take them up to Emma.

"Thanks for grabbing this stuff. I didn't want to leave her alone."

"Of course. Is she awake? Can I see her?

"Sure. Not sure if she's asleep, just go on up."

Clay entered Emma' room quietly to find her resting. He walked over to the bed and could here how congested her breathing was. He laid a hand on her forehead and she was definitely hot. He sat on the other side of the bed and pulled out his phone, to just spend some quiet time while Emma slept.

After about 20 minutes, Emma began to grow restless and started to cough. Her pitiful wheezing and hacking tore at his heart. He rubbed her back and tried to calm her. Suddenly, she sat up and scrambled for the bucket Jason had placed by her bed. Clay supported her in his arms and held her hair back.

"Shhh…Em. It's okay…it's okay." She retched and gagged. There was really nothing in her system to expel anymore.

Finally, her gut calmed, and she sat back, resting against Clay. He held her and kept smoothing her hair back from her brow.

"Clay," she rasped. "When did you get here?"

"About ½ hour ago."

"Ugh. I look horrible. That must have been so gross. I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Em…"

"You don't have to…"

"Shhh. I don't care what you look like honey."

"But…"

"Honey," he interrupted. "I love you no matter what you look like. And I want to be here with you. What matters is you feeling better."

"This isn't how I wanted to welcome you home."

"You can't help begin sick…hey let me get you some water to rinse your mouth."

He hurried downstairs to get a cup of water for her.

"Here babe." He handed her the water. "Just spit in the bucket and I'll take care of it."

"No. You don't have to."

"Babe, I've had to deal with much worse. It's no big deal. I'll take care of this and get you some Pedialyte. We need to get you hydrated."

Clay walked downstairs with the bucket to dump and rinse it. He called for Jason, who appeared from the mudroom.

"Yea, Clay. What's up? How's Em?"

"Not good. She just vomited again. I'm concerned. Has she kept anything down?"

"I don't think so. Here, let me deal with that. Why don't you give Trent a call?"

Clay handed him the bucket and reached for his phone. He called Trent while he poured Emma some Pedialyte. He conferred with the medic about Emma's condition. Trent confirmed the need for fluids and promised he would come by if he was needed.

When Clay got back upstairs Emma was resting. He knew she needed to sleep, but she needed some thing to drink.

He spoke softly, "Emmie, Em? Baby, I need you to sip some of this, okay?"

He helped her sit up a little and supported her while she sipped the liquid. He laid her back against the pillows. Setting the cup down beside her, he maneuvered next to her, so she was laying a bit against him.

Jason brought the clean bucket back and spoke quietly. "What did Trent say?"

"We need to get fluids in her. He said if she doesn't keep anything down and keeps vomiting, she'll probably need an IV and antiemetics. I'm gonna stay here with her and get her to drink."

"Okay. So, you're good if I go to Mikey's practice?"

"Yea. We'll be fine. I'll call if anything changes."

"Okay, thanks." Jason leaned down and kissed Emma's head.

Clay kept vigil and woke Emma to drink. She slept pretty quietly, so even Clay dozed off. He woke to the sound of Emma's coughing and her movement as she tried to get up out of bed.

"Honey? You okay? Are you gonna be sick again?" He reached for the bucket.

"No. I think I might need to pee."

"Here, lean on me." He walked her to the bathroom and waited for her to get her back to bed. They settled back down into the sheets. Just that short walk had exhausted her.

"Can you drink some more Em?"

She took the cup and finished up the little that was left.

"How's your stomach?"

"It still feels woozy. I'm not sure I could eat anything."

"That's fine. Let's not rush anything. I'm just happy you're keeping these liquids down. Let's rest some and I'll get you some more to drink in a little while."

Her eyes were already drooping as she nodded against him.

Clay spent the night, waking every couple hours to get Emma to drink and getting up with her to walk her to the bathroom. By the time Jason checked in the next morning before he got Mikey on the bus, she had finished about ¾ of the bottle and the dehydration danger seemed to have passed.

At about 10 a.m., Emma woke up. She was still feeling rough, but she hadn't vomited since yesterday. Her slight movement woke Clay.

"Em, you okay? You need something honey?"

"No. I'm good."

He snuggled her closer and kissed her head.

"Ugh! How can you do that? My hair is greasy, and I have to smell awful.

"Don't care. I'm just happy that you seem to be over the worst of this." He slid out from behind her and stood up. "I'm gonna get you some more to drink. You think you could handle some crackers?"

"I'll give it a try." She coughed some more. "I'm just so tired."

"You can rest after we get something in your stomach."

Emma woke in the afternoon, alone in her room.

"Clay," she called out.

Jason appeared in the doorway. "Do you need something Em?"

"Where's Clay?"

"He went home for a bit to do some stuff and get a shower." She nodded. "You look better honey. Your color's better and," he laid his hand on her forehead, "You're much cooler."

She finally looked around her room and saw the flowers. "Where did these come from?"

"Clay brought them over yesterday. He also brought you some stuff to read." He gestured to some magazines on her nightstand.

"I told school you'd be out for the rest of the week."

"Uhhh. I'm going to have so much catching up to do."

"Clay texted Hannah and she's gonna bring over your assignments so you can get caught up. Why don't you don't back to sleep for a bit?"

She nodded and snuggled under the covers. Before she fell asleep, she reached for her phone.

-Thanks for the flowers and everything else. Love you-

She couldn't keep her eyes open for a response. The next time Emma woke up, it was dark outside. She heard voices downstairs and knew one belonged to Clay. She wobbled to the top of the stairs and called out. "Clay…can you come here please?"

He hurried to the stairs and put his arm around her to steady her. "Em, you okay?"

"Yea, yea. I just wanted to…"

Jason called out. "Clay, Emma, I'm gonna take Mikey to his game. We'll be back later."

"Okay dad."

"Sure Jace. We're fine."

They made it back to Emma's room and he helped her sit up against the pillows. He sat next to her and held her hand.

"Thanks for taking care of me. I hope you don't catch this."

"I got my flu shot, so I should be okay."

She ran a hand through her hair and cringed. "Eeeww. I feel so gross. I want to take a shower."

"You think you can manage?"

"I think so. Can you stay close?"

"Of course, babe."

They walked to the bathroom and he turned the shower on for her.

"I'm gonna go get you a clean towel honey. I'll just set it in here and then wait in your room. Yell if you need anything."

Emma got undressed and stepped under the warm spray of the shower. It felt heavenly to let the water rinse over her. She closed her eyes, and everything was wonderful until the room began to spin. She groped for the wall.

"Clay, Clay!"

He burst through the door. "What's wrong honey?"

"I'm…I got so dizzy."

"I'll turn this off and we'll get you back to bed."

"No. Please. I really need to wash up."

Clay thought for a moment. "Okay Em. Just a second."

He undressed and stepped into the shower with her. Emma leaned against him. He grabbed her bottle of shampoo and lathered up her hair.

"Mmm…" she hummed as she massaged the lather into her scalp.

Clay moved them so he could rinse the bubbles from her tresses.

He couldn't help his body's reaction to her. Emma could see his arousal as well.

"Clay, I'm, I'm sorry, I don't…"

"Shhh, don't worry about me. That's not important right now."

He continued with the shower, smoothing her body wash over her with a sponge and rinsing her soft skin. He turned off the shower and wrapped her in a fluffy towel.

"Feel better baby?"

"So much better. But, I'm really tired."

He wrapped a towel around himself and helped her back to her room and into some clean PJs. He wished he could change the sheets, but she was swaying in his arms. He spread a towel for her wet hair and snuggled her under the covers. Once she was tucked in, he returned to the bathroom and got dressed.

He checked on her quickly and then went down to get her a drink and heat up some soup in case she felt like eating.

He bought up a tray and set it on her desk. He looked at her serene face. For the first time since he returned, she was breathing clearly and there was no tossing and turning. He decided the soup could wait. He settled in beside her, kissed her cheek and drifted off.